Issue Introduction:

The transition toward sustainable energy and chemical technologies requires catalytic materials that combine high activity and selectivity with durability, resource efficiency, and scalability. This Call for Papers of Sustainable Catalysis will highlight emerging advances in the design, synthesis, characterization, and mechanistic understanding of functional catalytic materials for sustainable chemical and energy conversion. Particular emphasis will be placed on understanding the relationships between material composition, structure, electronic properties, interfaces, defects, morphology, and catalytic performance across thermocatalytic, electrocatalytic, photocatalytic, photoelectrochemical, and hybrid catalytic systems. Studies providing mechanistic insights under realistic operating conditions, especially through operando and in situ characterization, are strongly encouraged. The collection also aims to bridge fundamental materials chemistry with practical catalytic technologies. Contributions addressing scalable and reproducible synthesis, catalyst and electrode engineering, mass transport, reactor integration, stability under demanding operating conditions, and translation toward industrially relevant systems are particularly welcome.

We welcome original research articles, communications, reviews, and perspectives that advance materials-driven approaches to sustainable catalysis.

Topics of Interest Include (but are not limited to):

• Rational Design of Catalytic Materials: Composition–structure–property relationships; nanostructured, porous, hierarchical, single-atom, sub-nanocluster, nanoparticle, and high-entropy catalysts; defect, strain, and electronic-structure engineering; metal, metal oxide, sulfide, nitride, carbide, phosphide, carbon-based, and hybrid materials.
• Interfaces and Heterostructures: Catalyst–support and catalyst–electrode interactions; heterointerfaces and interfacial charge transfer; core–shell, Janus, heterojunction, and tandem architectures; dynamic interfaces and surface chemistry under catalytic conditions.
• Thermocatalysis: Catalytic conversion of CO₂, biomass, waste, and renewable feedstocks; hydrogen production and utilization; selective oxidation, reduction, hydrogenation, dehydrogenation, and reforming; catalyst stability, deactivation, and regeneration.
• Electrocatalytic Materials: CO₂ reduction and carbon utilization; water electrolysis and hydrogen production; fuel-cell catalysis; nitrogen-cycle electrocatalysis; biomass and waste valorization; paired electrolysis; value-added chemical synthesis; electrode and catalyst-layer engineering; high-current-density electrocatalysis.
• Photocatalysis and Photoelectrochemical Catalysis: Semiconductor and heterojunction photocatalysts; solar-driven chemical transformations; photocatalytic hydrogen and CO₂ conversion; photoelectrochemical water splitting; charge separation and transport; light–matter interactions and photothermal effects.
• Operando Characterization and Mechanistic Understanding: Operando and in situ X-ray absorption, Raman/SERS, infrared, XPS, electron microscopy, synchrotron techniques, and mass spectrometry; identification of active species and reaction intermediates; catalyst reconstruction, restructuring, dissolution, and phase transformation; structure–activity–selectivity relationships.
• Scalable Materials Synthesis and Catalytic Engineering: Scalable and low-waste synthesis; continuous and flow-based approaches; advanced fabrication methods; reproducibility and compositional control; catalyst-layer and reactor engineering; translation from laboratory-scale materials to technologically relevant systems.
• Data-Driven and Circular Materials Strategies: Machine learning and AI-assisted catalyst discovery; high-throughput and automated experimentation; computational–experimental integration; earth-abundant and non-critical materials; catalyst recovery, recycling, regeneration, and sustainable manufacturing.

Scope and Significance

The collection particularly encourages contributions that move beyond reporting catalytic performance and provide fundamental materials-level understanding of why a catalyst performs, how it evolves during operation, and how its properties can be deliberately engineered for improved performance and durability. Studies combining advanced materials synthesis with operando spectroscopy, synchrotron techniques, electrochemical analysis, microscopy, theoretical calculations, kinetic studies, or advanced reactor engineering are especially encouraged. Equally important are contributions demonstrating the translation of newly developed materials from proof-of-concept studies toward high-loading, high-throughput, high-current-density, long-duration, or industrially relevant catalytic operation.

We therefore invite researchers working across materials chemistry, heterogeneous catalysis, electrochemistry, energy conversion, spectroscopy, nanomaterials, reaction engineering, and sustainable chemistry to contribute their latest findings and perspectives to this collection.

Academic Editor:

Dr. Debabrata Bagchi
Department of Material Chemistry for Catalysis, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie, Berlin, Germany
Email: debabrata.bagchi@helmholtz-berlin.de

All manuscripts will undergo peer review according to the established policies and procedures of Sustainable Catalysis. Final decisions regarding publication will be made based on the outcomes of peer review and evaluations by the Academic Editors and Editor-in-Chief. Editors will not participate in the evaluation or decision-making process for manuscripts with which they have a conflict of interest.

We warmly invite researchers from the international catalysis and materials science communities to submit their latest research articles, communications, reviews, and perspectives to this collection and contribute to advancing materials-driven solutions for Sustainable Catalysis.